Midnight Coward
by See-there
Summary: Travelling with her Band across the states, Taylor finds herself in Charming, the worst place her nomadic life has taken her in the last 10 years. She doesn't plan on staying, and she definitely doesn't plan on seeing old friends, or making new ones. -This story has been milling about my head for a while now, i thought id write it down to get it out- AU- I OWN NOTHING from SOA
1. Chapter 1

_When there is nothing left to burn _

_You have to set yourself on fire_

_-Stars _

" TAYLOR! Dude! HEY DUDE! Wake up!" Taylor's eyes slowly opened, she was lying in the back of the van,

smushed between a guitar and a pile of dirty clothes, the autumn sun was rolling over the horizon and she could

barley make out who it was that disturbed her from some much needed sleep.

"What the fuck is your problem Zach!" she tried to scream but her voice was still raw from last nights show.

"Sorry princess, van overheated again. We need your magic hands out here" "UGHHHH, this is bullshit," Taylor

muttered under her breath as she tried to make her way forward out of her cocoon. The van always broke down,

and no matter how many times she showed her dimwitted band mates how to diagnose the problem they never

learned, or seemed to care.

"Okay losers" she said rubbing her eyes, " what is it this time" Taylor walked over to the front of the van, the

hood was up and smoke was filling the air around it, she waved it out of her face to get a closer look. Looking

around the engine she sighed, then bent down on the ground to get a look under the car seeing the antifreeze

puddle dripping underneath it "ahh fuck" she sprang up and walked away from the metal nightmare that was her

tour bus and light up a smoke.

Zach and Nick followed her, scratching their heads. They almost looked like Twins in this light, mostly because

they both always wore the same hipster uniform, band-t, jeans and flannel shirt. In the light of day they couldn't

look more different, Zach with his dark hair and brown eyes, a beard hiding most of his features, While Nick was

taller and scrawny, he slouched a lot and always wore a goofy grin on his face, his long beard reminded Taylor of

her brother.

Taylor studied them both as she took a long drag of her smoke, "the engine is leaking, there might be a crack,

definitely not something I can fix on the side of the highway, we'll have to get a mechanic." As she said those

words she realized they were missing someone "wait, where's Jessie?" The two stared at each other shrugged

their shoulders and laughed "we don't know, he wasn't here when we woke up, and he was the one driving the

damn thing, he must've gone somewhere for some assistance ….or he could have been abducted?" Nick said as if

he were asking Taylor a question.

"Morons" Taylor said pushing past the pair walking back to the van, maybe her cell had some life in it and she

could call their manager to figure out how they would make their next gig. Reaching the open door she saw a pair

of headlights and heard a low honk, then came the site of her wild friend Jessie, hanging out the window of a tow

truck arms flying in the air as if he just won a drag race, she laughed and looked back at Nick and Zach, "where

are we anyways?" Zach was already running to the tow truck to greet his friend with an animated high-five

leaving Nick and Taylor alone by the van, "Only sign I remember seeing before passing out was for a town called

Charming, no idea where we are now" Taylor's heart stopped for a second. "Charming?" she sputtered inaudibly,

"This must be a fucking nightmare."


	2. Chapter 2

Taylor swallowed hard; only her luck would bring her to this place. Sure, it had been at least 15 years since she

had been back, maybe 7 since she last spoke to her Dad or Brother, but that felt like a lifetime ago and she

wanted nothing to do with it. Hastily grabbing her black hoodie from her makeshift bed in the van she pulled it

on and brought the hood up, covering her hair and most of her face, She was going to do whatever she could to

avoid TM, even if that's where their van was going. Grabbing her wallet phone Taylor shoved them into her guitar

case and threw it over her shoulder. She slammed the door shut and walked up to the truck where he friends

were inside talking to a goofy looking kid in a Teller Morrow shirt with tattoos on his head, Taylor gave a sigh of

relief, she didn't recognize this one.

"There she is! My little girl!" Jessie half- screamed in a patronizing tone as he got out of the truck "your chariot

awaits my darling!" he pushed her towards the door with very little effort. Jessie was like a bear, and he played

the drums like one, his massive hands made the drumsticks look like toothpicks and he often had trouble

keeping hold of them trough some of their more intense songs.

He was really just a teddy bear under his burly demeanour and Taylor knew he had a soft sport for her. Using this

to her advantage she turned around to face him "Jessie…" she looked up at him with her big green eyes "I'm

exhausted, is there anyway you can all drop me off at some motel on the way to a mechanic, I really need the

sleep, ill drive nights for you as soon as the cars fixed! Promise!" the big man laughed, "you little shit! Trying to

pull that little girl thing on me, I've seen you punch larger men than me in the face for less then a sideways

glance". She looked at him and smiled "then maybe you should be careful not to let me get too tired and cranky?

Hmm?" knowing she won this battle Taylor got into the cab of the truck. Sitting half on top of Zach and Nick, a

little too close to the tattooed kid for her liking. "Hey I'm Juice" he smiled, trying to see her face under her mask

of hair and hood, Taylor just looked forward. "Taylor is the name, would you drive me to the closest motel before

bringing the van in, I'm homicidal when tired" The guy laughed and looked over at her friends sympathetically,

having to deal with this girl must be exhausting.

Dodged a bullet there, Taylor thought as she entered her motel room, the quick ride to the sleazy hourly rated

motel was rather painless, the guys did most of the talking, asking Juice about his tattoos and talking about their

band, she got away without having to say much to anyone and she was thankful for that. Throwing her guitar

case down on the bed Taylor went to take a shower, living on the road warm water was a luxury so was a little

peace and quiet. Turning the water on as hot as it would go, she got under the faucet and let out a long breath.

It had been so long since she had thought about any of them, she did her best to make her own life and for the

most part she was successful in that. She was happy with what she had, the band wasn't amazing, but it was

something she was part of, as clumsy and goofy as they were, those guys were her family and that's all she

needed. As she pondered in thought about what it would have been like if she had known the person in that tow

truck. If it were someone who recognized her, what would they say? Would the things that angered her so much

in the past rear their ugly heads? No she thought, not anymore.

Looking at her fingers turning into prunes Taylor turned off the shower got out and dried off. She put her goodie

and leggings back on, wrapped her long red hair into a towel and left the bathroom, along with her introspective

thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

When the daylight comes  
Do you feel it?  
Leave your bag of bones  
Underneath your bed  
Everything is as  
It should be  
I'm leaving now  
As I should be - _No Way, The Naked and Famous _

It was around 4 pm when Taylor heard the rumble of an engine in the parking lot outside her door, as each of the car doors

slammed they were followed by loud exciting talking and a rambunctious knock on the door, walking to answer it she looked

through the peephole and saw the three stooges she loved so much. She unlocked it and quickly stepped back as Jessie, Nick and

Zach came storming in, "Hey! You will never guess the day we had " he exclaimed as he plopped down on the bed Taylor just

woke up from "Yah Tay" nick added "We have some wicked news". Coming from these three "wicked" and "news" gave her

almost as much apprehension as she had when they first arrived in charming. "Well spill, then" she replied walking to the open

door so she could stand half in the motel room as she smoked. "Okay, well we went to this auto shop called Teller Morrow and it

was AWESOME, there were cool biker dudes everywhere, some where pretty gnarly looking and there was this one chick who.."

"Nick, get to the point" Jessie cut his obviously over stimulated friend off and walked over to Taylor while lighting up a smoke of

his own. "Okay fine" nick continued "So anyway, that Juice guy was pretty cool, and we told him how we our in a band, on tour

and could barely afford gas let alone paying someone to fix a Leakey engine, and he suggested a joint venture to help us raise

money for the van. Basically we are going to play at this place called the Hairy Dog or something, and the shop will take the

money charged at the door to pay for the work! How awesome is that !?"

Taylor Blinked and stared hard at all three of them, maybe getting out of here quick was not in the cards this time, "What about

Mitch? Didn't we hire him as tour manager so he can deal with this shit? Why can't he forward us money so we can just get the

hell out of here to our next gig" she said trying to hide the overwhelming panic in her voice. "We told him, he thinks it's a good

idea, he is pushing back our dates in Tacoma by a few nights so we can do it, this is the best option, come on aren't you up for

some adventure" with a small nudge Jessie looked at her questioningly. Under any other circumstances this is

something she would 100% be into, Taylor loved flying by the seat of her pants, the less planning the better she thought, control

was way overrated. She didn't know how to tell them why she needed to leave this place, never having planned to find herself in

this situation. She just grinned and put out her smoke on the ground "Yah guys, i'm in, when do we play?" Looking up at her

friends faces she realized they all looked nervous. Zach bit the bullet and smiled at Taylor "Ugh. About 2 hours, I call shower

first!" and he ran into the washroom Locking the door behind him.

Getting ready in a crowded room full of men was never easy, but Taylor had almost mastered it at this point. It was an hour

later, and she was tying up her ox blood docs. Standing in front of the mirror she was confident, that from a distance she looked

great, her red hair in its usual tousled mess, dark eyeliner and thick mascara adorned her eyes. She opted for wearing a flowy

tank dress that slit down both sides exposing the tattoos along her ribcage and back, it was cool enough without trying too hard,

and she wouldn't get hot while one stage. It was only up close that she could see her brow was sweating from what was more

than her usual pre-show nerves, she tried to breath deeply to calm down. You don't know any of these people, she told herself,

you don't owe them anything, they probably wont even recognize you, maybe they wont show up. She went over this in her head

again and again in a trance-like state until Jessie appeared in front of her. " Yo Earth to Taylor, you good to go!?" She looked up at

him "Yah i'm just waiting on all your slow asses" she replied walking past him heading to the car they borrowed from Juice, "lets

go girls!" she laughed. Taylor used a false bravado when she was nervous, either she was a great actress of her friends weren't

very perceptive.

Happy was sitting at the end of the bar, not sure why his brothers made him come to this bar, it was full of biker-wannabe

douche bags and heavy metal chicks, not his usual scene of actual bikers, and strippers. Turning to the bartender he motioned for

a beer, when Jax walked up and greeted him with their usual half man hug. "Hey brotha, I know this place is lame but I just want

to check something out, Ope should be on his way soon too" Happy took a sip of his beer and nodded "Why is juice at the door

man?" Jax looked up at juice and laughed " that kid, he told this band that he would fix their van, if they gave him money from

the door cover , guess he thinks they are popular enough to turn a profit"

Jax wasn't telling Happy the whole truth, but he knew that hap didn't care about family drama. This morning when Juice came in

with three guys from upstate whose car broke down he really didn't think he would find himself sitting at the Hairy Dog about to

watch their band play. He also couldn't believe that after getting juice to do a check on them, that their lead singer would be

Taylor, Opie's younger sister.


	4. Chapter 4

Waiting backstage, they were all set up and Taylor was looking to see if she could recognize anyone in the crowd.

The lights were bright enough that she couldn't make out any faces. She sighed; it was too late to turn back now.

"Fuck it, here goes" she took a large swig of her bottle of Jameson and walked on through the door onto the stage.

The lights dimmed and on stage came three guys followed by a striking woman, her hair was fire red and she

was about 5'7, no heels. She approached the mike with a guitar strapped over he shoulder and in a raspy but loud

voice she spoke to the audience " thanks for coming out, we are Young Blood and we hope you enjoy the show!"

The drummer counted down and the music started. Loud raging guitar sounds came through the speakers and the

girl on stage started to sing,

_Father did you miss me?_  
_I've been locked up a while._  
_I got caught for what I did but took it all in style._  
_Laid to rest all my confessions I gave way back when._  
_Now I'm versed in so much worse,_  
_So I am back again._  
_And he said_

_For the lines that I take, I'm going to hell!_  
_For the love that I make, I'm going to hell!_

_Gettin' heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells._

"Wow She's HOT!" juice screamed over the music as he made his way to the bar to greet his friends, Happy just

nodded and looked forward. He watched the girl on stage, she definitely had a presence, she moved on stage

singing, almost screaming at points and she seemed so full of genuine anger and distaste, Not to mention she was

sexy as hell. Live music rarely captivated Happy, it all seemed so whiney and self indulgent, or just shitty, this girl

was different though. He wasn't the only one who had noticed just ahead of Happy, Jax and Opie had their heads

closer together talking as if they were in private.

"I don't know man, is that her? She was 10 the last time I saw her" Jax asked his friend, whose eyes were

unblinking as he stared ahead "Yah man that's her, I looked her up a year or so ago online, just to see how she

was. Didn't realize she could sing like that " Opie spoke with a sense of sadness in his voice. That was definitely

his little sister, although the girl he remembered her to be was still a 10 year old who would follow him and Jax

around everywhere. He hadn't seen her in 15 long years and now she was quite a woman, powerful and

commanding on stage, she sang with depth and conviction, even if she was singing about going to hell.

7 Songs and half a bottle of whisky later, Taylor bowed to the crowd "you guys rock! We will be back Friday night

tell you're friends" With her final words to the room she walked of stage with a guitar. Singing and playing on stage

was the only place Taylor could really express how she felt about anything; it made her feel weightless, and it was

such a high of adrenaline that she almost forgot where she was. "Wow, that was awesome guys!" Nick half

screamed to them as he came bounding into the dressing room smiling from ear to ear, "seriously, we haven't

sounded that tight like, ever and the crowd seemed to love it, I wonder if there are any hotties out there who

wanna meet the band?" Taylor wiper her face with a towel and threw it at him, "If you want to meet any girls you

should shower, your seriously stink bud". Nick took the towel gladly and patted his face with it "Taylor, you must be

immune to pheromones, because our stink post-show smell brings the girls a runnin'!" the guys all burst out into

laughter and high-five.s Taylor smirked, what a bunch of dorks, " whatever guys, i'm going for a quick smoke, ill

be back for the drinks you all owe me".

Taylor found herself at the back of the bar and loading dock area, it took about two seconds and the light of a

smoke for her to come down from her post show high, the sight of a certain blonde adding to the equation. He

walked beside her smoking himself "good show" he said not looking at her, "thanks" it was a quick reply. They

both just stood there staring ahead while smoking, when she finished he smoke Taylor turned to go back inside but

he stopped her, "I don't know if you remember me, my names Jackson, I was your brothers best friend growing

up" he looked at her face searching for some sort of recognition. Taylor could feel herself getting pissed off by the

second, she tried to reign herself in " I don't have a brother, or at least one that I know." Finding Her voice was

hard but she hoped to make herself clear. "Listen Jax, I obviously remember you, thanks for coming to the show,

and fixing our van, we are leaving tomorrow, I don't really have any time to catch up right now the guys need me

to help clean up in there, take it easy" with that she walked back inside leaving the Blonde Biker felling a little

confused, he normally got a friendlier reaction from women.

**Authors Note** : Hey guys! hope you like the story so far, just so you know the lyrics i used for the song Taylor was singing are actually a song called " Going to Hell" by The Pretty Reckless , check it out, its a cool song. Cheers.


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